DERMA-E Class Action Lawsuit Says ‘Natural’ Products are Synthetic

A class action lawsuit alleges that DERMA-E’s products, advertised as “natural,” are actually synthetic.

Plaintiff Jennifer Meyers claims that she and other similarly affected consumers were led to believe that DERMA-E products contained only natural ingredients because of the products’ advertising.

She alleges that she purchased the products because their front labels indicated that they contained no synthetic ingredients. However, Meyers says that after her purchase, she discovered that the products contained a long list of synthetic ingredients.

The DERMA-E class action states that Meyers “would not have bought the product had she known that the labeling she relied on was false, misleading, deceptive, and unfair.” However, the plaintiff says she would purchase the products again if DERMA-E changed the products’ ingredients to adhere to their “all natural” claims.

Meyers alleges that she purchased the product at a premium, arguing that DERMA-E is priced higher than comparable items because natural products are seen as more desirable to consumers than their synthetic counterparts.

The DERMA-E deceptive advertising class action lawsuit points to a Federal Trade Commission warning that products marketed as “natural” can be deceptive to consumers.

The DERMA-E class action lawsuit cites the FTC’s statement on this issue, which states that “marketers that are using terms such as natural must ensure that they can substantiate whatever claims they are conveying to reasonable consumers. If reasonable consumers could interpret a natural claim as representing that a product contains no artificial ingredients then the marketer must be able to substantiate that fact.”

According to the DERMA-E class action lawsuit, DERMA-E’s products contain a long list of ingredients that are not natural, but the average consumer with less than an expert knowledge of chemistry, might very well not understand that those ingredients are not natural.

The synthetic cosmetics class action lawsuit cites studies and consumer surveys that allegedly show that the general public understands the term “natural” to mean not synthetic, and that “eighty-six percent of consumers expect a ‘natural’ label to mean processed foods do not contain any artificial ingredients.”

The synthetic ingredients that are allegedly present in DERMA-E’s products include:

• zinc oxide
• dimethicone
• cetearyl alcohol/cetyl alcohol/stearyl alcohol
• potassium sorbate
• sodium benzoate
• xanthan gum
• glyceryl stearate
• glyceryl stearate citrate
• cocamidopropyl betaine (coco betaine)
• gylcolic acid
• polysorbate-20
• phenoxyethanol
• decyl glucoside
• coco glucoside
• tocopherol (acetate)
• titanium dioxide
• citric acid
• ethylhexylglycerin
• glycerin (vegetable)

Meyers states that DERMA-E intentionally misleads consumers to believe that their products are something other than they are by misrepresenting the synthetic ingredients listed on the back of the products. She claims that DERMA-E relied on the fact that most consumers would not have sufficient chemistry knowledge to understand that the ingredients are synthetic.

The plaintiff is represented by Reuben D. Nathan of Nathan & Associates APC, and Jason P. Sultzer, Joseph Lipari, and Adam Gonnelli of The Sultzer Law Group PC.

The DERMA-E False Advertising Class Action Lawsuit is Jennifer Meyers v. Stearn’s Products Inc., Case No. 3:18-cv-00557-DMS-NLS, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.